What ingredients make for an authentic Paella?

Question

First hand experinces if you have them from the natives?

Answer 1

You never said what kind of paella you would like to make. Paella can be made with just about anything, but chicken, fish, or seafood are the most popular, but always contain rice. As far as ingredients other than rice are concerned it depends on what kind of paella your making. To get a handle on basic paella recipes (and ingredients) go to www.foodtv.com. You will also find some of the more obscure recipes for this dish.

Answer 2

I went to Spain in 1955 when I was 9. We were the 4th set of tourists in Lloret de Mar. For a special treat our hosts cooked Paella, outdoors in the courtyard over a wood fire in a huge oval iron dish. My brother and I had a great view of the ingredients from our perch in the overhanging olive trees. First oil, garlic and onions. Then rice. Then some water, then saffron. Then octopus. After a while some prawns and some mussels and more herbs (also some lichen off the olive trees thanks to us). We loved most of it but I can still feel the rubbery chewiness of the octopus!

Answer 3

You must use real saffron, I think the last time I bought it was something like $8 for 1/2 oz or some such ridiculous amount, but it's labor intensive to get.
Use fresh seafood, chicken, there's a Spanish sausage available that they use a lot.
Mostly I wanted to warn you not to waste time and money using some of the saffron substitutes, they make the color but not the taste (Mexican brands I've tried are no good). It's an expensive dish to make correctly, so add a few extra dollars for the good stuff. One small package of saffron will make about 4 meals, so that's only $2 a time, just seems a lot for a tiny package. Good luck.

Answer 4

The original paella was a land-based dish, featuring, saffron, rabbit and snails (ick), which purists still believe is 'the' recipe.

However, almost every area of Spain now has its own regional speciality, and seafood paella is now the most well-known. Common ingredients for this include prawns, crab, saffron, fish stock, mussels or other shellfish and white fish meat.

Answer 5

Dude, you have no idea...everybody has a different recipe, and everybody *swears* it's authentic. Good luck figuring out which one is genuine!

But most agree: saffron, green peas, seafood of some sort (shellfish, lobster, shrimp--whatever's good and fresh locally), often sausage, chicken, or rabbit (squirrel would probably be OK, if you had one handy. I mean, if you're into that sort of thing.)

Usually not red meat, but hey--do your own thing. If you require a little red meat, I guess you could throw some in. Also, the rice is important. And the name of it escapes me. Arborio? I think arborio. Or that's for risotto. Or both. Grrrr!

I say, use what's fresh and available locally (just use frozen peas--peas are only available for a little while in the spring, and you don't have to have fresh peas unless they're in season) and do your own thing. The paella pan is nice, but not 100% essential. It's all about experimentation and your own personal style and taste. Have fun experimenting!

Answer 6

Paella is one of those dishes that is traditionally made with whatever happens to be lying around, depending on what part of the country you live, so if you are on the coast it is mainly fish, for example. Generally it is a rice based dish with a few veggies, white fish, white meat and assorted shellfish - especially mussels.

Incidentally, Paella is the name of the large frying pan that it is cooked in, not the dish itself.

Answer 7

A paella is very flexible so if you don’t have the exact ingredients or if you find some of them hard to get hold of, substitute them for something similar. Getting fresh shellfish can be a problem, but you can always use frozen fish and use fish stock instead of water to increase the flavour. I often use packets of frozen sea food which are really intended as appetizers, with frozen scallops and whatever else I can come by. Don't be put off by the fact that you can't get the ingredients here: substitute! One popular addition, which can often make up for a lack of seafood, is pieces of chicken.

There are literally hundreds of ways to cook a paella and every cook has a favourite recipe. I find it a great morale booster to have a paella pan Try this one:

INGREDIENTS:

1 small onion, finely chopped
1 green pepper, finely chopped

½ red pepper, boiled until soft and then cut into long thin strips

2 medium-sized tomatoes, skinned and finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

100g peas, cooked

200g prawns (if using cooked prawns substitute fish stock for the water)

200g small clams

200g squid

12 mussels

350g rice (traditionally short grain rice is used but I prefer to use long grain)

2 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped

a pinch of saffron strands (if you can’t get saffron, use yellow food colouring instead and add it once you have added the liquid)

a sprig of parsley, finely chopped

olive oil

about 800ml water

PREPARATION:
MUSSELS: Wash the mussels, removing the beards. Throw away any that don’t shut on contact with water.

FRESH SQUID: Rub off the outer dark skin. Pull out the insides (including the transparent back bone) and pinch the eye away from the tentacles. Save the tentacles. Cut the squid into rings.

CLAMS: Wash in water and then put in a bowl with some salt so that the grit comes out. Throw away any that are open.

PRAWNS: Whether you peel them or not is up to you. If you decide to peel them, save the shells and boil in water for about ten minutes. Save the liquid and add later instead of water.

GARLIC: In a pestle and mortar, grind the garlic, saffron (if using), parsley and a pinch of salt.

RECIPE:

Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion, green pepper and carrot and fry gently for about five minutes. Add the chopped tomato and squid (with the tentacles) and fry on a low heat for another ten minutes.

Add the rice and stir well to make sure that it is thoroughly coated. Add water (or the water from boiling the prawn shells or fish stock if using frozen fish), clams and the garlic/saffron/parsley mixture and bring to the boil. Season with salt. Put a lid on it, turn the heat right down and cook very slowly for about ten minutes. Add the prawns and peas and give it a stir. Arrange the mussels and strips of red pepper artistically on top, put the lid back on and leave for another ten minutes - checking that it has enough water. If you think it is getting too dry, add more water, but shake the handle of the pan rather than stir so as not to upset the pattern. Once the rice is cooked and the mussels have opened, it is ready to eat.

¡Qué aproveche!

Answer 8

The three main ingredients are rice, saffron and olive oil. Here is a good descrip:

http://www.freeglossary.com/Paella

Answer 9

QUICK PAELLA

This version may not be strictly traditional, but garlic, kielbasa, shrimp, clams, and saffron bring the flavors of paella together in a satisfying way.

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup frozen onions and bell peppers (6 oz)
1/4 lb kielbasa (not low-fat), quartered lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices (1 cup)
2 cups instant long-grain white rice such as Uncle Ben's
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 1/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (10 fl oz)
1/8 teaspoon crumbled saffron threads
20 frozen cleaned raw medium shrimp such as Contessa brand
1 1/4 lb cockles or other very small (1-inch-wide) hard-shelled clams, scrubbed
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup small pimiento-stuffed green olives

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over high heat until just smoking, then sauté garlic and frozen onions and peppers, stirring, until garlic and onions are golden, about 2 minutes. Add kielbasa and cook, stirring, until kielbasa is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add rice, wine, broth, saffron, and shrimp and cook, covered and undisturbed, over high heat until most of liquid is absorbed and shrimp are cooked through, about 6 minutes. Stir in cockles, peas, and olives and cook, covered, until cockles open wide, 2 to 4 minutes. (Discard any cockles that remain unopened after 4 minutes.) Remove from heat and let stand, covered, until all liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes.

Makes 6 servings.

Gourmet
Quick Kitchen
February 2006

Epicurious.com © CondéNet, Inc. All rights reserved.

Answer 10

In a stove to table pan, saute boneless chicken breasts and boneless chicken thighs in a tablespoon of olive oil until browned, set aside. In same saute pan, saute one chopped onion and 1/2" sliced chorizo sausage in olive oil. When onion is translucent add minced garlic, then 1 1/2 cups rice with a teaspoon of turmeric or 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads. Add teaspoon of salt into rice. Add 3 cups chicken stock. Stir in frozen peas and finely diced red pepper. Return chicken to pan, nestling chicken into rice. Cover pan and simmer until rice absorbs most of stock. Add scrubbed mussels and little neck clams into rice. When mussels start to open add cleaned and deveined shrimp. Cover until shrimp is pink and shellfish opens. Rice should have absorbed all the stock. Taste rice to see if it's done. Discard any shellfish that did not open. Just before serving, arrange sliced Valencia oranges on top of pan.

I serve with either a robust red wine, sangria or frozen Margaritas.